The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a cylinder head gasket formed of a plurality of metal plates.
In manufacturing a steel laminate gasket, metal plates for constituting the gasket are prepared separately to have holes for cylinder bores, water holes and so on. In case a curved portion and a flange are formed in a metal plate around a hole to be sealed, the flange and the curved portion are, at first, bent perpendicular to the plate, and then the flange is further bent to be located above a base portion of the metal plate.
In this case, when the flange is bent above the base portion of the metal plate, a space is generally formed between the flange and the base portion around the cured portion. The metal plate with the space around the curved portion may be assembled with other metal plates for constituting a steel laminate gasket.
Although the space provides resiliency at the curved portion, when the gasket is used for a while, the curved portion may gradually be flattened to thereby loose resiliency at the curved portion. Accordingly, the metal plate with the space around the curved portion may be further processed to be flattened over the base portion.
In case the plate with the flattened flange is to be prepared, after the flange is bent over the base portion, the flange is compressed further against the base portion. The plate with the flattened flange may be assembled with other plates to form a steel laminate gasket.
In the conventional metal gasket, the metal plate with the flattened flange or the metal plate with the space around the curved portion may be assembled with other metal plates. However, these plates are simply assembled with other metal plates, and are not processed further or assembled to have specific function.
Accordingly, one object of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a cylinder head gasket, wherein the steel laminate gasket can be efficiently assembled together.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a cylinder head gasket as stated above, wherein the steel laminate gasket can be assembled to provide resiliency for sealing around a hole.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a cylinder head gasket as stated above, wherein the steel laminate gasket can be easily and economically manufactured.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.